The Art of Receiving Editorial Feedback

For an author, receiving feedback on their writing can be terrifying. Having someone read what you’ve spent so much time on only to find out it bored them and they stopped reading after the second page is downright demoralizing.

Things could also go the other way. Someone might “say” they read it and tell you they loved it. But you have the feeling they aren’t telling you everything.

These mostly unhelpful situations don’t give the author anything to go on other than making them feel bad or putting them on the wrong route if they aren’t at the publishing stage yet. This is most likely to happen when a friend or family member reads your work and doesn’t know how to give actionable feedback to help you revise.

When working with a professional editor, an author will find out what is working and what is not working in their writing with detailed guidance on how to start the revision process. This type of feedback is empowering because there are solutions and possibilities to get where you want to go.

If you’re working on a large writing project and know you’ll need outside feedback, watch my "Ask an Editor: Stress-Free Ways to Process Editorial Feedback" workshop recording co-hosted with Lila LaBine. Learn what helpful feedback looks like and how to be ready to receive it so it doesn’t crush your creative momentum but helps you move forward.